


The Dalis

by unoun



Category: La casa de papel | Money Heist (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:06:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27647249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unoun/pseuds/unoun
Summary: A group of men in red suits... an inspector who becomes suspended... a trip to an unknown city... paranormal phenomena...Raquel really thought it was going to be an investigation like any other.She really did.And by the way what's a mutant?AU Serquel.
Relationships: Berlin | Andrés de Fonollosa/Alicia Sierra, Denver | Daniel Ramos/Mónica Gaztambide, Raquel Murillo/Professor | Sergio Marquina
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	1. Prologue.

25th July. 

Do you know the proverb that says "The more you know, the luckier you get"? 

Well. I'm smart. Like very very smart. 

Wait... Who am I trying to fool here? 

It's my superpower. I'm super-smart. That's what characterized me here. And that's how I inherited the nickname "Professor". 

So I have the super-intelligence. This means, basically, even Einstein or whatever asshole you can say, appears stupid next to me. 

And I am very modest, as you can see. 

That kind of super-power makes you feel that way, I assure you. 

My brain is always calculating something, evaluating a probability, thinking about translating everything I hear into every possible language... So I'm not bad at hand-to-hand combat, at throwing projectiles, like knives, for example, I'm not bad at explosives either, and.. yeah. A lot of things.

I'm tired. 

But wait a second. 

I'm not saying that being intelligent is tiring, it's even super nice. I love it. But I wish I had another superpower. Like... Flying, for example.

or 

Being able to read other people's thoughts. 

Oh no, maybe not that one. 

Considering the kind of specimen I've been sharing my life with for 25 years, which is far way too long for my well-being... I don't even want to know what they're thinking about.

You're probably wondering who I'm talking about. 

I've lived my whole life with them. Most of my life. They are all adorable, and at the same time very hateful, each in their own fucking way. 

I love them. 

Unfortunately? 

Depends on my mood, and even more on theirs. 

But we can say I love them and they love me. 

I think. 

But to come back to this proverb, as I am very intelligent (I may have said it too much, but it can never be said enough), I am also very lucky in life. In general. 

And maybe that day... I was a bit too lucky. 

I should have been wary? 

Yes. 

Oh, fuck yes.

He confided as a building blow up behind him.


	2. The strange meeting.

19th June. 

On this beautiful Tuesday, Raquel had decided to go on a run for a couple of errands. It was sunny, quite hot, the weather was perfect to make a little snack for Paula after school. Cooking a cake, having sweets... Her 8 years old daughter, adorable and so cute, deserved a little sweetness in her life.  
After experiencing her father's violence and her parents' divorce, Paula deserved to finally enjoy her childhood years.  
That's why Raquel, around 11 am, decided to go to the supermarket. Just to please her little girl.

Walking on the pavement, in the middle of the crowded Madrid streets, one hand in the pocket of her jeans, the other holding her bag... She might surprise herself by whistling to the rhythm of today's pop music that stuck in your head for one week when you heard it for the first time on the radio.

Raquel was an inspector for the police, and she was off today.

Not bad for a woman.

She was proud of it. The second thing she was proud of in her life after her daughter was her career.

Even though her superiors, all men, her colleagues, all men, were a fucking pain in the ass to her, very macho, wanted to control her, commanded her all the time when clearly she was much more efficient than them, were paid much more whereas as a woman she had to do more work, making remarks to her all the time about anything like the way she dressed and of course disguised as a joke to make it easier to laugh about it and make it more accepted...

Raquel was also divorced. A stormy, difficult divorce that made a lot of noise.

Alberto – the name of the bastard in question, was her husband for 10 years.  
They had a good life together. Very good years. The first ones actually. They were in love. They met in college, and became quickly inseparable. Well... at least, until Paula arrived in which things got worse. A remark about the way she dressed, one slap. A remark about her outings, another slap. And soon there were several slaps and punches, and no more friends, and no more life outside the household.

Inevitably, when your ex-husband who was beating you, was one of the co-workers, she soon found herself alone. With no friends.  
Oh. And an application pending in the sole custody court for Paula. Pending. Because, inevitably – again, Alberto knew a lot of people. So, for the time being, in the eyes of the law, Alberto, a violent man, could very well take his daughter whenever he wanted.

And what was the most fucked up in that story is the fact that her only sister was now dating her abusive ex-husband.

Yes. Totally fucked up.

In that wonderful situation, Raquel was not totally alone. She was with her mother and her daughter, fortunately... but still alone. Oh, and her mother has Alzheimer by the way. Sometimes, she didn't remember her own daughter and her own grand-daughter.

Apart from that, she was fine.

She was really fine. 

As fine as you can be when life decided to literally shit on your face. 

Everything was great.

15 minutes later. Her phone was ringing. 

A text from Angel. A colleague who only thinks about one thing: getting her into bed. Even though he was married. He would have been a handsome man yet... why not... but he wasn't Raquel's type, far from it. He was nice. But he only thinks about his colleague's ass... Raquel's ass.

Angel: I know it's your day off, but something's happening in the Royal Mint. We don't know yet... but this is crazy, we need you now please

Raquel could have been delighted with this message: another opportunity to show that she was better than them.  
But it was her day off. She had been dreaming of this day for a long time. For years actually. She wanted to please so much her girl. And she wanted to be far away from this masculine toxicity. Even for a day.

So she acted as if she had never seen this message and continued her stroll.

One hour later. 

Raquel was at home, preparing food. She had prepared something quick for herself, and was now dedicated to making a delicious cake for her daughter.

She was really trying to get rid of her mobile phone which was vibrating in her back pocket.

The first time she thought she was dreaming, just like the second time.

The third time, she wanted to pretend that she didn't feel it, just like the fourth time.

But the fifth and the sixth time it was starting to get awkward. Having her ass vibrating all the time... in other situations, it could have been nice. But not now.

She blew, washed her hands on the towel and finally took her phone out of her pocket.

3 missed calls from her boss.

1 missed call from Angel and 2 messages.

Angel: Raquel, I know it's your day off, please pick up. It's crazy what's going on.

Angel: We don't know if there's a hostage situation, everything is completely crazy. We don't have a fucking clue. We don't have access to anything, the colleagues aren't coming, it's an army in there! 

Ok. Maybe it was serious. But fuck! It was her and Paula's day.

Paula? Work?

Work? Paula?

Her daughter, for whom she would do anything? Her work with colleagues and boss she couldn't stand anymore?

The love of her life? Or the work that gave her grey hair?

She put the phone away and decided to keep cooking for Paula. Just Paula until at least 6pm.

Preparing the cake, cleaning the house a little. Take a little nap.

And it was time to go and fetch Paula. Finally she was going to see her baby.

She got into her car and drove quickly in front of her daughter's school. And for the first time in her life, she walked past the other pupils' mothers – the kind of women she hates the most in the world, and waited patiently for her dear daughter to arrive.

"Oh I thought you'd be with your colleagues at the Royal Mint," said one mother as she approached.

"It's my day off," Raquel simply replied.

"Do you know what's going on anyway? When we watch the news, we come across crazy scenes, wondering if it's not from an old science fiction movie", said the blonde, searching for some gossips.

"Day off" repeated Raquel, keeping a polite smile on her face. It was her day off, period.

The blonde didn't have time to answer that the kids were going out and Raquel quickly looked for Paula. Paula quickly got out of the crowd and jumped into her mother's arms.

Kissing Paula tenderly, asking her how her day at school went. Surprise her by taking her to the park near their house. Have a snack and let Paula play for a while.

There weren't many other children, or too old for her daughter to play with them. So Paula soon found herself playing by herself near a tree.

This was the kind of moment Raquel enjoyed the most, but unfortunately, this kind of moment was also so rare. Mostly because of her work schedule. Raquel quickly immersed herself in her thoughts, not even noticing the scene in front of her.

… : Don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious …

Paula looked up to the woman who was singing. Three people were walking in her direction without seeing her. She was sitting on the grass, and had been challenged by the voices coming towards her. The woman was tall, taller than her mother at least. She had a very short haircut for a girl, Paula noticed. She wore a pair of boots, destroyed denim shorts and a long t-shirt. She was holding three red suits and what appeared to be funny masks. She was very beautiful, Paula thought straight away, but not as beautiful as her mom. Her mom was perfect. 

She was accompanied by two men, one very tall with kind of long black hair, very pretty. He looks like a Disney prince, like the one she saw last week-end with her mom. And he was also mysterious to Paula, with his entire black clothes. He had a beard and seemed to be the one in charge of the other two, since the other man, who was smaller than him but taller than the woman, and very pretty too, was behind them and seemed to be scolded by the man.

… : Shut up. Just shut up.

… : Come on... we had fun!

… : That's the problem. You don't think about the aftermaths. You just want to have fun. You're not 20 anymore!

The man seemed very angry, but didn't scare Paula. Watching him talk to his friends, Paula felt that he wasn't mean, but was more worried about them. He seemed very protective, and so automatically, Paula didn't feel afraid of him.

… : You're no fun.

The woman was pouting, she was so funny to Paula too.

… : And you're stupid ! We're going back to Toledo, and that's it!

At this phrase, Paula couldn't hold her laugh anymore and sneered at the behavior of the two adults who were acting like children.

The three adults stopped and looked at Paula, surprised to see that a young child had been listening to their conversation. The brunette asked Paula, leaning towards her.

… : What are you laughing at, little girl?

Paula smiled at them, unintentionally revealing her little hole, a sign of a missing tooth on the front of her mouth, that makes them softer, and said: “the man is scolding you, and it reminds me of my mummy when she saw me jumping on the sofa for fun. And you're grown-ups, it's funny!”

The man, who was acting like their dad in Paula's eyes, leaned over to Paula and smiled: "Sometimes I even wonder if they're not children … you seem more intelligent than them" he whispered to Paula with a friendly smile.

Paula laughed at the man's words while the other man said: "Come on Professor, we are not children!”

“But you're acting like one!!!” said Paula laughing her ass off, which made the three adults laughed with her. Professor laughed and agreed with Paula, which made the man even softer for the girl and amused even more Paula.

The brunette sat down on the floor next to Paula and said: "Do you want to see something fun?”

Paula's eyes widened, ready to watch what her new friend was going to show her.

"Tokyo. Please don't do that." The man called Professor looked at the brunette, Tokyo, ready to reprimand her. He had the same look like her mother when she was about to scold her.

"Professor! She's just a child!! And she's very cute," Tokyo laughed.

"One last thing before we go, we swear!! Let me show you something cool too" said the other man, behind Professor.

"Don't Rio! Please, if anyone sees you..." Professor said more to himself, as he kind of knew it was already over for him.

Rio put himself in a position ready to run and Professor watched with displeasure, under the amused gaze of Paula. They were so fun, she already liked them a lot.

"Look over there" said Tokyo, pointing to the ball of one of the older boys.

Paula followed her new friend's finger carefully and looked in amazement as the ball went in all directions, in the air, on the ground... it was as if the ball was being controlled! Paula had her mouth wide open and looked at the scene in amazement.

"On your marks, ready, set, go" cried Rio.

And Paula didn't understand how, but in a matter of a second, Rio had brought the ball back to her and had given it back to the boy without him noticing.

Paula looked at them. She was missing the saliva in her mouth. They were incredible!

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT? THAT'S SO COOL."

It was certainly this shout that brought Raquel out of her thoughts.

She looked up and saw her little girl surrounded by three people.

Inspector or not, this kind of situation was terrifying. She stood up quickly towards her daughter and cried out:

"HEY YOU!! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!! LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE," she stepped forward with a hand on her hip, an old reflex, since she noticed that her gun wasn't there. With an angry look, she quickly ran to her daughter, ready to protect her.

"Mama! These are my new friends, Professor, Rio and Tokyo and they are doing really cool things," said Paula, extremely playful with these adults.

After checking that Paula was more than ok, Raquel looked up at the three adults. What were three people who seemed to be the same age as her, were doing with a child?

“Mom!! They are very nice to me, don't do your cop thing please, they are sooooo cool” pleaded Paula to her mom. Paula really seemed to like them. Raquel looked more attentively, and indeed, it appeared that they were not doing anything wrong. Maybe Raquel had overreacted, but.. come on... it was normal to act that way when your daughter was facing strangers in a park!

"Excuse us Madam. Your daughter interrupted our discussion, we weren't doing anything wrong" Raquel heard a deep voice, kind of enchanting.

Raquel looked more attentively at the adults accompanying her daughter.

The brunette had a defiant look in her eyes. She was clearly not afraid of Raquel. She was beautiful. A bit provocative about the way she dressed, or her make-up, and even her attitude, she seemed to be in complete control of herself and was aware of her assets.  
Second, a man. He was handsome. With a childish and naive face, laughing eyes, a little too muscular for her taste, he looked like he was straight out of university.  
And finally, as she looked up, she came across two beautiful penetrating and brown eyes. A square jaw was hidden by a perfectly groomed beard, strong shoulders, a straight posture, arms and legs perfectly molded by a black T-shirt and black jeans. He had half-long, black, magnificent hair. "Drop your hair care bitch" thought Raquel directly.

"We weren't hurting her, I assure you. Please, excuse us, we didn't want to afraid of you. We're getting ready to leave now, aren't we?"

So that was the voice of the handsome man who had spoken to her. At these words the other two got up and stood by the man's side. As if they were used to being commanded by this man.

"These are my new friends, Mama, they're so funny," cried her daughter, still in her arms.

“Paula, please, go back get your things” asked Raquel, eyeing strangely these people. She didn't know why, but they were very strange... cop instincts, she assumed.

Raquel didn't really understand what was happening. The three adults apologized, and the other two seemed to be reprimanded by the taller one as they walked out of the park. They turned around to greet Paula one last time, and Paula, happily, of course, returned the favor.


	3. The suspension.

All evening, Paula only talked about her new meeting a little earlier in the park.

The w h o l e evening.

So Raquel wondered if she had finally done the right thing by taking her along. All she could talk about was her new friends. And even though Raquel thought it was cute at the beginning, hearing about it for three hours straight... it was bloated.

"Professor was very funny, he reminded me of you when you scold me! It was like he was their daddy whereas they're grown-ups! And he even told me that I'm smarter than them!"

or

"They were so funny, Tokyo and Rio were so much fun and Professor scolding them was so so good."

The fact that three people made such an impression on Paula was nice for Raquel. Because it meant that three other adults managed to get her daughter away from her thoughts, which mainly revolved around her parents' situation. In a short time, very short time, they managed to please her daughter so much, to make her laugh... Raquel was now thanking them for this.

But ...

What are those names????

“Professor”, yet... why not. Raquel understood. The man was probably a teacher, hence the nickname.

But Tokyo?? Rio?? They really named by city names? That was really weird. So in a way, Raquel was right to be a little wary... what kind of person was called after cities?

However, the city names were not the weirdest thing.

Raquel wondered if her daughter had been drugged.

Paula had kept explaining to her how Tokyo had managed to control the boy's ball from a distance and that Rio had run so fast that in a matter of one second the ball was in her hands and then in the boy's hands.

"Tokyo was making the ball go in all directions, in the air, rolling it, going in all directions again, I swear!! And Rio had run so fast!!!! I didn't even see him do it because he was so faaaaaast!"

Raquel looked tenderly at her daughter who once again explained to her what Paula had called "the superpowers of Rio and Tokyo". She was making gestures and Raquel, throughout the whole show, thought she understood telekinesis and super-speed.

So Raquel thought she had to stop watching certain TV shows with her daughter. She was now using words that were too complicated for a child.

In any case, Raquel concluded that this encounter had been very strange, her daughter had found a new center of attention and that she had far too much imagination.

All her adventures on that day made Raquel so tired that, once Paula had been washed and feed, she was so tired that she went to bed once her daughter fell asleep.

Next day

Get up early.  
Get ready and preparing breakfast.  
Check to see if the nurses at the nursing home where her mother was staying had not left a message.  
Wake up Paula. Wash and feed Paula. Wake her up again because she wanted to go back to her dreams with her superhero friends.  
Take Paula to school.  
Go to the police station where she was considered a sub-human.

This was Raquel's routine this morning.

Except for that morning, on returning to her workplace, she was not greeted with more than inappropriate looks, but a real war scene was taking place. And as she walked through the offices, she received many disapproving glances from her colleagues.

"MURILLO! IN MY OFFICE NOW"

She recognized the voice of Colonel Prieto. Ok. If he wanted to make it clear that she was expected... she had understood that. Everyone had understood that. Perfectly. She was the center of attention to everyone. She hated that.

She was really wondering what was going on... She was a little anxious and stressed. She put her jacket and handbag on her desk and walked directly to her boss's office, keeping her shoulders and back straight, and trying to not cross the gaze of her colleagues. It was out of the question for her to show a single sign of weakness, she was strong, independent and had to make it that clear.

She knocked and waited for him to tell her to come in, but she didn't have that luxury as Prieto opened the door wide for her. Without greeting her. Raquel threw a polite smile and went inside. He closed the door harshly. And Raquel saw him walking along with the desk. If he had had hair, it would probably be upon his head. He alone represented the scene Raquel had seen earlier on her way back to her office: stressed, angry, incomprehensible and downhearted.

"Where were you yesterday? He mumbled.

"It was my day off, I was at ho-" Raquel simply replied.

"I called you. Rubio called you, many times. You didn't answer the calls".

He sounded so angry that Raquel was really starting to wonder: What was going on?

"I spent the entire day with my daughter, it was my only day off for three years, I wanted to enjoy it and-"

He cut it by banging his fist on his table. The violence startled Raquel.

"When I call you, you come, that's how it works!"

Raquel took it upon herself with such meanness and cruelty in his words and calmed down before saying:

"I'm sorry," she said. “I didn't think it was that bad-" he cut her off again.

"Since you don't care about what happens, you're going to give me back your badge and your gun" he said, reaching out his hand.

Raquel looked at him in disbelief. The anger rose quickly, as did the disappointment. How? Why?

"Listen Sir, let's not go so fast, give me time to explain and I'll listen-"

"No. Badge and gun. Out".

Raquel remained motionless and speechless for very long seconds. She didn't understand what was happening.

"You're making a mistake, Prieto".

Raquel went angrily to her desk, always keeping her attitude: shoulders and back straight, without looking at her colleagues. Clearly, something had happened while she was away, and he blamed it on her. She hated it so much. She kept repeating to herself: "Calm down Raquel, stay strong" over and over again.

For once she had taken a day off, for once! And now it was all falling on her. She just wanted to enjoy time with her daughter! Once in three years! Was it too much to ask?

So she put her badge and gun on her office desk and quickly made her way to the exit.

Once in the lift, and just as she was about to blow of anger, a hand slipped through the doors. She was no longer alone. When was she going to get some rest?!

“I heard what happened” Angel's voice took her out of her thoughts full of anger and incomprehension.

It wasn't the right moment for him to be nice towards her.

“So you know that I'm suspended?” asked harshly Raquel as she turned to him. He tried to make puppy eyes. No effect.

“You should have answered Raquel...” She looked at him in disbelief.

“Are you serious? It was my fucking day off! I just wanted to spend some good time with my daughter! It's been three years since I didn't take a day to her or even to myself!”

Angel shrank back in fear at the words of his colleague. He did not expect such anger. Even less towards him.

Raquel felt the hairs on her back and her arms straightened. They were on her nerves... she was going to explode, for sure.

"Listen... what happened yesterday was unbelievable. I shouldn't tell you... but it was out of our reach. We got called because there was a robbery going on at the Royal Mint. We got there, there was nothing. We had no contact with the inside, our lines were all blurred. We couldn't make any calls, no internet, no machines were fucking working! And all of a sudden, after two or three hours, it came back as if everything was normal, except that almost 35 million euros were stolen! It was as if nothing had happened, except that 35 fucking million euros were out of seen! People inside saw nothing at all! They couldn't understand what happened! The cameras don't show anything... the security system? Nothing at all! Can you believe this??”

Angel was pulling his hair explaining this. It's true that it was weird, Raquel thought. But is that a reason to treat her like that? She wasn't responsible for that shit.

"There are videos around on the internet showing some things so unbelievable... we don't understand anything. We're all on edge and-"

"And apparently I am responsible for it. Thank you for explaining this to me Angel. See you" said Raquel, still extremely angry and leaving as soon as the lift arrived. She went in the direction of her car.

As she got into the car, Raquel couldn't hold it in anymore. Everything around her was collapsing. She slammed hard against the steering wheel, letting out a few tears. She was so angry... So much.


	4. Dolodo ?

Once at home, Raquel exploded. Raquel went through all the emotions: anger, disappointment, incomprehension, but above all... anger.

How could he have dared to suspend her? After all, she had done for them?

Couldn't he understand that she just wanted to enjoy some time with her daughter?

And apparently, what happened was beyond their capacity, so why go after Raquel?  
Well, because there had to be someone to blame, or at least someone to pay. Because they had no leads. So they have chosen to throw all this unfairness on the only woman of the group, Raquel indeed.

After wanting to break a good dozen plates, wanting to take her car back to the police station to tell them her way of thinking, she finally decided to settle down, a cup of coffee in her hands and think.

What was she going to do?

Waiting for the time to pick up Paula at the end of the day, Raquel decided to go and check for herself what they were saying to each other about what had happened the day before at Royal Mint.

First, she went to see the journalists' articles.

All of them were titled of incomprehension around this scene, what happened that day, where did the 35 million euros go, or who is responsible for this incredible theft.  
All of them told without any further details that the Royal Mint was stolen mysteriously, in the middle of the day, under the eyes of more than hundreds of people, for more than 30 million euros. Witnesses, both inside and outside the Royal, were unable to recount what happened, as if they had all forgotten. They were all in a state of incomprehension. That was really the word. As if they had all forgotten what had happened, even though it was right in front of their eyes.  
The police, and therefore Raquel's colleagues, testified that no technology worked during the robbery. No messages were sent. No calls were made. The cameras had not worked as well as computers. No telephone has worked. The Internet was no longer working. It was as if all technology had stopped working at the time of the robbery and at that precise location.  
So these men were talking about a perfect robbery by a hacker who knew how to steal all that money from one place outside the Royal Mint, because there was no other explanation since nobody saw anything.

Raquel stopped reading the last article that she could find.

It was indeed disturbing. They really didn't have any leads, and it seems that whoever did it was really good at it. He had managed to ruin all the technological connections, and that he had never set foot in the Royal Mint... how was that even possible?  
Raquel thought that she understood the situation Prieto was in, but beyond that, was it a reason to suspend her? It seems that she couldn't do something to help them, the situation was totally fucked up from the beginning. So why her?

A voice in her head just told her what she thought since the beginning of her career: "because you're a woman".

As she went to get another cup of coffee and make herself a sandwich, she remembered what Angel had said to her in the lift a few hours before.

"There are videos around on the internet showing some things so unbelievable” she could remember what he had said in that voice of him... she couldn't stand his voice anymore.

So she assumed that some videos were circulating on the net. She went straight for it as soon as she has finished her meal.  
It wasn't too difficult to see videos of what had happened. Several passers-by had filmed once everything had returned to normal.

The first video simply showed the incomprehension of the Royal Mint staff, who said that they had no idea what had happened, like a black hole. They couldn't explain, it was as if they had fallen asleep for a long time and had no memory. A real coma.  
They couldn't understand it, it was impossible that they hadn't seen anything. Some said they were in on it and that they were going to get their share of the loot.

And Raquel continued to watch the videos, which in the end all looked more or less the same: the staff who woke up from a coma lasting a few hours, the incomprehension and even, for some, the heroism of having stolen so much money in that situation, others who said how disturbing it was not to have any technology that worked anymore.

As she continued to watch the aimless videos now that she was going around in circles, as her colleagues apparently did, something caught her attention.

In a background shot of one of the videos of a passer-by, she noticed three strange characters in an alley. Strange because they were all wearing red jumpsuits.

A red jumpsuit.

A red jumpsuit,

in the middle of a street near the Royal Mint,

during a robbery.

Raquel stopped on the video and tried to zoom in. Two of them were wearing a rather crazy mask, with big eyes and a big mustache. Raquel wasn't an art fan, but she still recognized Salvatore Dali's face.  
Two of them were wearing Dali masks, so it was impossible to recognize their faces. However, Raquel could guess from the shapes of the suit that there was a woman, and a taller muscular man.  
She tried to zoom in on the other man's head, but it was very difficult. He had lifted his mask and you could see his face, but you could only make out his face, because he still had a beard on the bottom of his face.

It wasn't possible...

Raquel continued the video and saw that the man who was unmasked was making grand gestures, he seemed extremely angry at the other two who weren't moving. He seemed so angry at those two.

A tall, bearded man. Two others, maybe a woman and a man, smaller than the former.

The coincidence was too great.

She kept reminding what Paula had told her all the evening: "Professor was very funny, he reminds me of you when you scold me! It was like he was their daddy whereas they're grown-ups! And he even told me that I'm smarter than them!"

It wasn't possible, she couldn't believe it.

Could the three people that Paula interrupted in deep conversation be responsible for this carnage?

Could they be the ones who stole the Royal Mint?

Could they be responsible for her suspension?

Raquel calmed down for a few seconds. It wasn't possible, she didn't want to believe it.

But still...

Paula had kept telling her that Professor had scolded her two friends.

There on the video, a man, corresponding to this man's physique, seemed to scold two other people, even if masked, corresponding to the physics of this famous Tokyo and Rio.

And that would explain the strange city names, Raquel thought.

Maybe they were code names?

Raquel laughed, she seemed too far away in her imagination.

But it looked so real.

Were they responsible for all this?

Had she by any chance met the thieves? Did Paula get sympathized with the thieves?

Raquel held her head for a while, just to try to calm her mind.

When Raquel thought that in the end it was too obvious, and that it seemed impossible for her and her daughter to have crossed the path of the thieves, she remembered that this Tokyo woman was carrying red clothes and some masks...

Raquel laughed again.

This couldn't be possible and yet...

She had found in one afternoon what her colleagues were looking for in two days.

Incredible. She couldn't believe it.

But her daughter had still made friends with thieves. Who had been kind to her. But still thieves. And who had her suspended.

But in all this... where was the money?

Raquel wondered if it was worth warning her colleagues... did they deserve that she should bring the thieves to them on a silver plate and still be reduced to a sub-human... or at least to a woman for them?

No.

She decided to go after them herself. To get these 35 million euros back. And get a fucking promotion. Screw this masculinity. She was going to do it all by herself.

But first of all, she had to get Paula from school.

Needless to say, her daughter was once again very happy to see her at the school gate.

Paula had asked if they were going to the park again to meet her friends.

Raquel had a nervous smile and said no, which Paula was sad to hear, but Raquel went on:

"Did you hear anything that would tell you where they live? So that we could meet them again"

Paula had innocently asked her if it was to go and find them. Raquel must have lied. Well, not quite. It was to find them, but not to befriend them again...

Paula tried to remember the conversation... and after a while she told her mother what Professor had said:

“I don't remember well, but before they noticed I was there, Professor said something like: “We're going back to Dolodo”, and that's it!” she said, as she tried to imitate him with a hoarse voice. 

Paula was standing there, in front of her, a hand on her hips, and a finger pointing towards her. This made Raquel laughed so much, and Paula soon followed her.

As soon as they calmed down, Raquel asked if it was the real name of the city. Paula responded that she couldn't remember well, but it definitely as a -do at the end of the word. Raquel thanked her daughter. Paula came in the arms of her mom and said:

“Are we going to find them, Mom? I would love to see them again... They were really nice to me"

Raquel felt a twinge in her heart. Oh yes, she will find them... but certainly not for the same reasons as her daughter. She continued to caress her daughter's hair and back as she was now deep in thoughts.

Later that evening, after Paula went to bed, Raquel opened maps. All she had to do was find a city, supposedly in Spain, and hopefully around Madrid, ending with a -do.

She didn't look long. Toledo quickly defined itself before her eyes.

Toledo? Well... here I am.


	5. The savior

A few days after that revelation...

Raquel was on her way to Dolodo.

Yes, Dolodo.

It wasn't difficult to tell Paula's teacher that they were going on holiday; the school year was almost over, so losing a week of school at the end of the year was not going to penalize Paula. And she didn't tell Paula the truth about this holiday: she told her daughter that they were going on vacation.

She kept saying that name of the city, just to remind herself of Paula's imitation of Professor.

Paula in the car seat in the back, listening to a video on her tablet, Raquel was on her way to Dolodo to find the Dalis and the money.

Alone.

By herself.

Without any help.

Yes The Dalis. That's how she named those thieves.

She was going to apprehend the thieves of what the media called the heist of the century.

Just for that, Raquel laughed even more at the situation. It was going to be difficult, but Raquel had faith in herself. She was very optimistic about this operation. It had to be done anyway. By her in the best. She was going to find them, find the evidence, and then call her boss. And she will get a promotion. Having a fucking recognition in this fucking world of male dominance. 

That was the plan.

Toledo was not far from Madrid, about one hour of driving, so they got there quickly. Once there, it was a bit complicated, because Toledo was certainly not as big as the capital, but it was still a city.

The first step was to look for a hotel room. And so Raquel went to the first destination that her GPS could find.

Together with Paula, they went to the reception and quickly booked a room for a week.

Paula was so excited and happy to go on holiday that she jumped everywhere: from the lift to the arrival in their room, and especially in bed. It's true that even though Raquel didn't consider herself on holiday, she would still go with her daughter to an unknown place and spend their day looking for – or rather walking around, in the streets of … Doledo. So she was having fun with her daughter... it was so good for her to see her so careless... it warmed up her heart.

During the first three days, Raquel and Paula were simply strolling on the shopping and tourist streets of the city. Paula was having the best time of her life: she had her mommy all to herself, for once in her short life her mother was with her and not only for bedtime, they were on holiday while her friends were at school, she visited many different places, she saw things and people she had never seen before ... it was fantastic for the little girl.  
For Raquel... she was very happy to see her daughter having so much fun. But in the meantime, she never forgot her original goal: to find those red strange men, the Dalis.

Even though she enjoyed her moments with her daughter more than anything, because her daughter will always come first, she never stopped looking around to see if a little clue could tell her where they were.

And she found nothing.

In the days that followed, mother and daughter had left for a slightly more academic purpose. Raquel, armed with the knowledge of places, museums, and architectural monuments, (well... she used Google and more precisely, Wikipedia), she taught Paula everything they saw: an artist, a political event... everything. So in the beginning Paula enjoyed learning a lot, she was always very curious by nature. But... it was still the third museum in two days. Paula was saturated.

And Raquel found nothing.

As the days went on... Raquel became more and more discouraged.  
Time went by and nothing happened. Nothing to find, to see or to notice. Nothing that can lead her to the track of the men in red.

So the will to find those men disappeared quickly, as did her strength. After all, she had gone to a town according to a sentence from her daughter of 8years old! Now that she was discouraged by this "investigation", she thought what a stupid idea it was. First, what guarantee could she have that they were from Toledo? Second, even if they were indeed from here, what guarantee did she have that they hadn't already left with those millions? Because this was what she would have done! Going on a deserted island!

She felt really sad and weak. She felt so miserable and helpless that she thought her colleagues were right. Maybe, after all.. maybe she wasn't made for that job. She wasn't able to lead an investigation, what would she be their boss, right? She couldn't even find a single clue for God's sake!

The same evening, they had returned to their hotel room, and clearly ... Paula still had energy left over.  
It was too many emotions. Between these negative judgments because of the fucking robbery, the fact that she was good for nothing because she hadn't found anything, and Paula who couldn't understand that she just wanted some rest... everything deteriorated.

"Mom... I want to go to McDonald's!"

Raquel, who was sitting on the bed and holding her head in her hands, repeated once again that this was not possible and that Raquel was going to prepare some food.

"But I want McDonald, it's so near the hotel, we can go mom, please" Paula kept repeating, jumping around.

Raquel thought that maybe she shouldn't have offered her an ice cream two hours earlier.

Paula kept running around, shouting that she wanted to go to that fucking "restaurant": "MOM PLEASE I WANT TO GO THERE!!!! WE KEEP DOING ANNOYING THINGS... IF I'D KNOWN I'D NEVER HAVE GONE WITH YOU, IT SUCKS HERE"

“PAULA POR FAVOR I SAID NO” Raquel shouted. She shouted like she had never shouted before. 

Paula stopped short. She was not at all used to this kind of excess anger from her mother. Raquel had already scolded her several times, like any parents would have done, but the way her mother yelled at her... that was a first. Raquel had never spoken in that tone before.

Paula, shocked to see her mother so angry and a little bit scared, swallowed the ball down her throat. With tears in her eyes, Paula ran to the exit door: "You're very mean, I hate you!"

And she ran away.

Raquel, at first, was astonished. She just wanted to calm down and had reacted in anger. And at least... Paula had indeed calmed down. But... she would never have imagined this reaction from her daughter. She never would have.

By the time she had come to terms with what had happened, Raquel saw that the door to their hotel room had been open for far too long...

She quickly came to her senses and ran quickly to the corridor. As frantic as she had never been before, she shouted Paula's name throughout the hotel.

Alerted, people started to come out of their rooms too and went to help her this mother in distress.

Raquel had strong tears streaming down her face. She kept asking everyone she met if they had seen a young blonde little girl in her pyjamas in the corridors, all around the hotel.

A couple at the reception desk told her that they had indeed seen a young girl running outside. Raquel quickly arrived at conclusions she would have never thought.... Her brain was running at an unimaginable speed and she was already seeing herself in situations that no mother would want to be in.

She was now in the middle of the street, looking like a madwoman. She was running around, constantly asking people if they had seen her little girl, in front of the sad eyes of the passers-by.

The seconds looked like minutes, and the minutes looked like hours.

Raquel was inconsolable and didn't know where to look. People who had searched with her tried to console her by telling her that Paula couldn't be far away, or that she had to call the police... She would bite her fingers. Tears flooded her face and she wanted to shout out to them that she was the police. She was responsible for this.

She wanted to shout to the whole world, to hurt herself... her baby was gone!

She didn't know how long she had been walking around the adjacent streets of the hotel. She didn't know how many times she had asked passers-by for Paula. Nothing mattered anymore. She wanted her baby back. Right now. She felt empty. She felt dead.

"Madam? I think I met someone who absolutely wanted to eat a happy meal."

She would have certainly recognised this voice and face if she hadn't been in that state.

But, she didn't understand the words of the stranger. Then, once she had assimilated them, she felt a weight being lifted from her heart, from her chest, from her shoulders... She felt alive. She quickly dried her tears and looked up.

She jumped from her seat and asked in a panic: "HAVE YOU SEEN MY GIRL?"

"We met her at McDonald's... I recognised her. You were very lucky, we weren't supposed to go there normally. I recognised your little blonde girl straight away. And she recognised me too"

Raquel was now crying. With joy this time. Was it real? This man had found Paula! Where was Paula?

"Where is she? Please... tell me where she is" Raquel asked, still in a panic, but a little more reassured.

"We brought her home, it's been a while since I searched for you. May I take you there?" he simply asked, by showing the outside of the hotel she was in.

Raquel didn't mind and quickly left towards the hotel exit. The man followed her, ready to guide her to his car.

There are more than 7 billion inhabitants on earth. And yet the man thought how lucky this woman was that her daughter had crossed his path that night.

But in all this... Was he the lucky one?


End file.
